Morning journal and courier., 1887-01-19
PARiSIAN WECH MEN.

Eneased i'm Glass Cases, Still They Are objects of Pity.
 The sandwich man" is fast becoming an institution in modern republican Paris. A large number of men got up as perambula- ting advertisements may now be met on tEe boulevards. Some, grave as mustard pots, walk along with huge iron frames fixed on their heads and shoulders; others appear, or rather disappear, inside gigantic bottles or similar vessels whereon the tradesmen's wares are conspicuously labeled. The least objectionable form of the eye-sore is the poor devil between two boards, upon which inviting looking broadsides have been past ed. In former times London used to teem with regiments of such unfortunates, who for shilling day consented to promenade from St. Paul's ta Charing Cross and back again from Charing Cross to St. Paul's, prin- cipally for the display of announcements in favor of rival newspapers. The sandwich man made his appearance about two or three years ago in Paris, where his plaeards at- tracted an attention that must have proved gratifying to his employers.
 The present is not, however, the first occa- sion on which this peculiar illustration of peripatetic advertising has been seen in the French capital, but in all former instances the reign of the sandwich man was of brief
 
 may be, now that new state of things has set in, is question yet to be solved It used to be alleged that he exercised strange influence on horses, and whenever an animal took fright the eoachman declared that it had caught sight of an amhulating poster. This may in measure account for the trans formation the sandwich man has undergone in his passage across the channel, for in Paris he is to be seen occasionally girt reund with an elegant glass like crinoline. The innovation is altogether disagreement of the handsome boulevards And so are those other walking advertisements, who in the place of boards wear on their black coats announcements embroidered in yellow letters on broad backs especially selected for this humiliating purpose. The French ara daily becoming more enterprising in their meth ods of advertising, but persons who remem- Der what disagreesble aight such exhihi- tions used to be in the London thorough fares would certainly be sorry to find the number of these poor fellows increase in the streets of Paris. It shocks what every true born Parisian poetically calls ''the harmony of the public way"
 There are five or six offices open in Paris where the sandwich men are recruited They receive three or four francs a day and walk up and down given beat for clever. consec- utive hours, "grooms' being posted along the way to keep sharp lookout over them. The more ingenious among them contrive new modes of advertisement, which the managers of these offices adopt We may instance the sandwich man who, being inside box painted outside to simulate a house, would now and then open small window and look out, exhibiting a nose as red as that of George Augustus Sala, while the advertisement above was for water recommended by all the Paris doctors to keep up the freshness of the skin. Another ons went about with @ board on which were inscribed the words: 'sDon't read what is behind," and of course every body did turn round to read, the ladies among the rest. Still, however farcical all this may seem the French are deeply moved at the sight of the poor wight who takes So much trouble to find 8 reader.